No clue, It should work fine. Of course the jagged edges are there b'cos it's a .gif. Since .png is too large for these forums and .gif has the rough edge the best best is to go for the "transparent look" and use the following:
Boston, Lincolnshire and Boston, Massachusetts. Portsmouth, Hampshire and Portsmouth, Virginia. Birmingham, West Midlands and Birmingham, Alabama. Only a minority of the US cities named after UK cities have a "New" before them.
I'm not going to pretend like I'm 100% convinced that this is the best idea however I can understand why you are doing it. However since I know whatever I say will make no difference there is no point, I will just wish you guys both the best of luck. I undersatnd what it is like to be far away from someone you care about. Hurts like hell. Kepp us updated on things mate.
<3.
Regarding the speed topic I DESPISE those people who go 50 in a 60 zone and then continue to go 50 when they go into 40 zones. Brainless wankers. In fact a lot of driving related things annoy me; Wrong signals, not giving way etc.